How Kosher Is Your Simcha (Featured in Mishpacha Magazine)

HOW KOSHER IS YOUR Are you eating the main course at that chasunah simply because all the other SIMCHAH? religious-looking guests are BY Dovid Sussman eating it too? Kashrus experts expose some alarming trends in catered affairs that might make you think twice before taking that next bite 30 MISHPACHA 16 Sivan 5772 | June 6, 2012 MISHPACHA 31 How Kosher is Your Simcha? added? You also have no way of knowing about affairs. People are simply unwilling to pay the the conditions under which the food is prepared extra money it costs to have a mashgiach pres- and served in the hall. The keilim, the ovens, the ent at an affair.” warming equipment, and all the other kitchen Anyone still in the mood to sample the main equipment and tableware may have been used course? at other affairs that relied on inferior standards of kashrus, and the guests at this simchah might How Kosher Is It? In the US, where not willingly rely on those standards. Moreover, many affairs take place in venues such as caterers often have to rent plates, silverware, and hotels that host both kosher and nonkosher other items of which they do not have a sufficient events, Rabbi Fishbane of the cRc has some supply for this affair, and there is no way to know further advice for the educated consumer who where these items were even the day before, and wants to determine just what he’s eating. what types of food they were used for. Who is “One question to ask is whether the facility has minding these dishes and making sure that they a dedicated kosher kitchen,” he explains. “If they are up to the standards of the guests? do not, that means that a kitchen was certainly “In addition, some food preparation natu- kashered for this affair. The question then be- rally takes place at the very last minute. There comes: Did the kashrus agency allow the utensils When troubleshooter Yechiel the affair, whereas a drop-off is an affair to which may be cooking and frying taking place either to be kashered within 24 hours of their previous Spira arrived at a wedding the caterer comes, hands over the food, and then at or immediately before the affair. Vegetables use? That is a major kula, especially after they were allegedly under the supervi- leaves. He is not present during the affair, and may be brought in, wine may be served, and yet used with tarfus d’Oraysa [Biblically prohibited sion of one of Eretz Yisrael’s the hashgachah ends the moment he leaves the with all the potential halachic pitfalls that these food items].” foremost kashrus organi- order at the hall and walks out. The kashrus of things entail, shockingly, often no supervision The cRc policy in Chicago is that kashering can zations, he already knew the food really depends on whoever takes over is present.” only be done on utensils that have not been used what to expect. He even once it arrives, whoever is running the kitchen “Rabbanim who have investigated the situation for a period of 24 hours. But in other locales, many commented to his wife, and handling the serving during the affair.” know that catered affairs are the single worst as- kashrus agencies find that applying such a strin- “This simchah is not being When the supervisory agency is not present pect of the kashrus scene in Eretz Yisrael today,” gency is not feasible. “A person has to know if he supervised by the people ev- for the actual simchah, a host of questions arises: asserts Yechiel Spira. is comfortable relying on that type of leniency,” eryone expects to be oversee- Who is reheating the food, and with what equip- The most obvious way to be certain that the Rabbi Fishbane points out. ing it.” ment? If the simchah is taking place on Shabbos, prepared food maintains its kashrus status during There are many other areas, as well, in which w “Why do you say that?” Mrs. does the person in charge have an adequate grasp and after transportation is one that is surprisingly an educated consumer would be well advised Spira asked. of the relevant halachos? What is the kashrus uncommon: extending the kashrus supervision to learn about the standards of supervision and By way of response, her husband in- status of other items, such as baked goods that of the caterer to cover the simchah itself. determine whether they meet his own personal dicated the wine station that was visible from don’t come from the caterer? “It would be nice if affairs were under the same standards. Rabbi Fishbane enumerates a few ex- where they stood. “Look at that,” he told her. hashgachah as the kitchen,” Rabbi Kuber says, amples: “Does the hechsher allow scotch aged in “There are open bottles of wine being poured Who’s Minding the Dishes? Rabbi “but at least in Eretz Yisrael, that is not the norm. sherry casks? Some people have a chumrah not to by irreligious people. The kashrus organiza- Mordechai Kuber, the rav of Congregation One of the major kashrus organizations actually accept that. What is their approach to peeled eggs, tion wouldn’t allow that. It’s happening because Nachlas Tzvi Ohel Avraham in Telshe Stone prints a disclaimer twice a year to inform people onions, and garlic left overnight?” This last point they’re not here, because there’s no mashgiach and a veteran kashrus official who spent that it doesn’t commit to supervise the actual is a common issue, as the caterer often cannot here. But no one, including the baal simchah, many years working for the OU, paints a realizes that.” startling and somewhat dismal picture of the The problem isn’t limited to the Middle East. situation at catered affairs in Eretz Yisrael, How far does a kashrus agency’s supervision where food is often transferred to the hall “A major kashrus organization actually extend, and what does that mean for from a different kitchen. unwitting guests who assume they can eat to Still, if the food was prepared in a kitchen that their hearts’ content? is under an appropriate hashgachah, what could actually prints a disclaimer that “There are two types of affairs that are gen- possibly go wrong? Rabbi Kuber asserts that erally held,” says Rabbi Sholem Fishbane of the there are plenty of pitfalls. it doesn’t commit to supervise Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc). “The full- “You have no guarantee about the integrity service catered affair and the drop-off. A full- of the food being served,” he points out. “Who service affair is under supervision throughout is to say that additional ingredients were not the actual affairs” — Rabbi Mordechai Kuber 32 MISHPACHA 16 Sivan 5772 | June 6, 2012 MISHPACHA 33 How Kosher is Your Simchah? prepare the requisite quantity of food on the to wait for the mashgiach. They’ve never halls with a large tray of kosher turkey sand- their part, make the mistake of thinking that day of an affair. “If you’re at a morning bris heard of such a bizarre concept!” wiches, when he encountered the head waiter their major obligation is to please the guests and you see a lox tray with eggs on it, there’s Perhaps because the rule is so foreign to of one of the nonkosher events. The headwaiter and that they will get credit for every request a good chance that those eggs were peeled the them, Rabbi Krupnik adds, workers sometimes peered at the sandwiches, decided that they they fulfill, when in reality, they are simply night before. Many kashrus agencies treat this forget this “small detail” and relight the flame needed some enhancement, and added slices creating problems.” issue leniently, but an individual has to know themselves. This is no laughing matter, for not of Swiss cheese to each one, blissfully sending Guests might turn to a waiter and request his own standards. only will the resultant prohibition of bishul the equally unknowledgeable waiter from the creamer for their coffee or a hot sauce to spice “Some of the devices that are used to avoid akum render the food forbidden, but the food kosher event on his way. The story has a happy up the entrée. The waiters, who are trained to halachic problems,” Rabbi Fishbane adds, “are will in turn transmit nonkosher “taste” to the ending only because the mashgiach discovered be obliging and accommodating to the great- often bidi’eved or backup solutions that have utensils that are used to handle it. the sandwiches in time. est extent possible, react by disappearing to mistakenly come to be accepted over time as Another little-known complication is that Rabbi Kurcfeld highlights another pitfall of the hotel’s regular kitchen and returning l’chatchilah. But these are inferior standards, chefs often have their own favorite knives, catered affairs that can affect even the most with the item that was requested. And the and that’s something to be aware of.” which they keep with them and use wherever impeccable hechsher. “People often go to guests, for their part, assume that the item Many of the techniques used in the highly they go. Rabbi Krupnik always emphasized smorgasbords and simply have no idea what came from a kosher supply. complex world of food preparation at catered to hotel employees that they cannot use their the foods are. I was once at a simchah where Contending with the expectations of a events are a mystery to the consumer. How usual knives even to cut lemons and limes a certain food was filled with something that baal simchah can also be a major challenge.

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